


High Stakes

by doubletrouble (fairytale_bliss)



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: F/M, Mild Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25114249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairytale_bliss/pseuds/doubletrouble
Summary: This was it. By far the most important battle of the day.
Relationships: Kojirou | James/Musashi | Jessie
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	High Stakes

**Author's Note:**

> Four and a half years later, I decided to finish this and post.

This was it. By far the most important battle of the day.

Sweat beaded at James’ temple and ran down the side of his face, and he shook his head in a futile attempt to get the lone strand of hair out of his line of vision.

Opposite him, Jessie stood tall and unfazed, her arms folded across her chest, a challenging eyebrow raised.

“Is that the best you can do, James?” she asked, her voice rising in a nonchalant lilt. He stiffened indignantly.

“Not by a long way,” he snapped. “Inkay, let’s go!”

Inkay let out a battle cry and assumed an attacking stance, ready to go at a moment’s notice. Technically, Jessie did have the advantage; Gourgeist was fully evolved and much stronger. But stranger things happened to them on a regular basis, and he had faith in his Pokémon. Inkay could do this.

Meowth had long since abandoned the campsite, claiming that he would go and scout out the nearby vicinity to look for the twerps, and Jessie had been more than happy to let him go. It was that action that had let James know in no uncertain terms that there would be a fight tonight. It had taken him somewhat by surprise, but he was not a quitter, whether he was prepared or not.

“Inkay, Foul Play!” he ordered.

Inkay shrieked and flipped, powering forward at full speed.

Jessie was ready for it. “Dodge it, Gourgeist!”

Gourgeist drifted gracefully to the side, and Inkay went careening past, missing the trunk of a tree by the slightest of margins.

“That’s it!” said Jessie, her lip curling. “Now use Shadow Ball!”

Gourgeist sang her name, forming the shifting ball of energy between her hands.

“Inkay, look out!” James cried.

It was too late. Disorientated by the miss, Inkay had no time to turn and dive away from the attack that was coming his way. It connected with a bright flash, and Inkay was thrown backwards with a shrill cry, hitting the ground hard. James winced, curling his hand into a fist. He hated seeing his Pokémon get hurt. Jessie would accuse him of being too soft, but he knew that beneath her indifferent visage that she had the exact same thoughts that he did.

When the smoke cleared, he saw Inkay prone on the floor. He called the Pokémon’s name. At the sound, Inkay struggled back up, floating back into the air.

“Are you all right?” James called.

“Inkay!” the little Pokémon cried, his eyes sparking with fresh determination. It boosted James’ own confidence.

“That’s the spirit!” he said.

“Cute,” said Jessie with a smirk, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “You’ve got more fighting spirit than I thought, I’ll give you that.”

Gourgeist nodded in agreement, mirroring her mistress’ actions with the tendrils that fell into her face.

“You don’t know the half of it,” James retorted, glancing over at his Pokémon. Inkay nodded in agreement. “Let’s go, Inkay! We can do this!”

Inkay trilled his name and soared back into the middle of the battle area.

“You sure you don’t want to give up now before Inkay takes a beating?” Jessie asked.

“Never!” James retorted. “I’m not a quitter.”

Jessie laughed. “You quit all of the time. And today you’ll wish you had! Gourgeist, use Seed Bomb!”

Gourgeist summoned the energy and sent it hurtling through the air with crackling ferocity.

“Dodge it and counter with Psybeam!” James ordered.

Inkay dove downwards to avoid the ball of energy before shooting back a dazzling beam of his own. It hit Gourgeistsquare in the face and she tumbled backwards with a cry, saving herself from crashing into the ground by the sheerest of miracles.

Jessie blinked, but she was never one to be deterred for long, and her Pokémon fed off the same energy.

“Cute move, but it won’t be good enough to thwart this. Dark Pulse, Gourgeist !”

Gourgeist unleashed a barrage of obsidian energy, but Team Rocket hadn’t just taught Jessie to think quick on her feet.

“Counter that with Psybeam!” James shouted. “And then follow up with Tackle!”

“Innkaaay!” the Revolving Pokémon cried, unleashing a second powerful beam of his own. It hit Gourgeist’s attack head on, and the whole area erupted with a white flash. Inkay trilled his name and launched himself down in the vapour’s wake. The colour of the smoke disorientated Gourgeist; before Jessie could open her mouth to issue a warning, Inkay had landed a clean hit. Gourgeist squealed as she flew backwards, crashing into the earth so hard that it fissured open. Jessie jumped out of the way of a loose clod of earth, turning to stare with ill-disguised bewilderment at her fallen Pokémon. That was Jessie’s weakness. She was always too over-confident in these battles.

He could teach her a lesson.

This was his opening. One more attack now would finish Gourgeist off, leaving him the victor. James could almost taste it on his tongue, a sweetness like no other.

But then he glanced across at Jessie again.

Jessie, who was gazing at her Pokémon with dumbstruck wonder, having never thought to find herself in this predicament. She had been so certain of her win, had clearly had it all planned out…

He froze. Sensing his conflict, Inkay paused too, turning back to him with a questioning chirp. He was waiting for the command. He would not strike the winning blow without it.

The words got stuck in James’ throat.

This was what he wanted, right? To win, for a change? To be able to gloat and crow the way she did?

But it wasn’t, he realised.

He was a better trainer than either Jessie or he often gave himself credit for. He could match her with ease, and could at least win half the time if he put his mind and heart into it.

But that was the problem.

His heart _wasn’t_ in it.

He always lost. A subconscious decision, no doubt. Because there was a great consolation prize for being a gracious loser, too, and it put Jessie in an even better mood to win, which in truth made all of their lives easier.

Pride or pity? Which would it be?

The words were sill stagnant on his tongue. Inkay whined in confusion, urging him to give the order.

And he couldn’t. He couldn’t say the words.

Which was his downfall.

Jessie had regained her bearings.

Swung back around on him, her eyes blazing with renewed grit.

“Time to finish this, Gourgeist! Dark Pulse!”

Gourgeist screamed, launching those pitch black rays at Inkay. The little squid cried out, twisting this way and that, but there was no escaping them as they entwined themselves around him, until they were a suffocating, wriggling mass smothering the life from him.

“Follow up with Seed Bomb!” Jessie ordered.

Gourgeist generated the pulsing emerald ball between her hands, shaking with the effort of containing it.

“Inkay, look out!” James cried, but it was far too late.

Between the black tendrils, Inkay didn’t see it coming.

He never stood a chance.

The powerful grass attacked connected with a sizzling crunch that resonated through the area, and Inkay was flung backwards, squealing. He hit the ground with a sickening thump and moved no more.

“I win!” Jessie crowed, dancing round in a circle in one of the most embarrassing victory dances he had ever seen. “Way to go, Gourgeist!”

Gourgeist did her own little victory jig, but James ignored them both, running to his Pokémon’s side, where Inkay was just beginning to stir.

“Are you okay?” he asked him urgently, slipping his hands beneath his little body so he could cradle him to his chest.

“In-kay,” his Pokémon responded, blinking open his eyes. Relief flooded him. The last thing he ever wanted was for his partner to be hurt in vain.

“I’m sorry,” he said sadly. “You fought well. It’s all my fault we lost.”

“Inkay!” The Pokémon nuzzled further into his arms, as if dismissing any possible truth to the words. James ran his forefinger under his beaky mouth before foraging the Poké Ball from his pocket.

“Take a good rest,” he said. “You’ve more than earned it.”

And with that the bright red light encapsulated Inkay and drew him back into his home to recuperate. James minimised the ball and returned it to his pocket, turning around to find Jessie recalling Gourgeist with the same smug look upon her face.

“Well, James, you fought bravely,” she commiserated with that same arrogance. “But we both knew you’d be no match for me.”

 _I almost had you_ , he wanted to point out, but bit his tongue. It would do him no good to antagonise her. She _had_ won. Regardless of how close she’d come to losing, or if she even realised how close she’d come, she _hadn’t_. He hadn’t taken advantage.

A weak little loser, that was all he was. Always dragging his friends and Pokémon down. How might they thrive without him?

Jessie must have noticed the melancholic downturn of his mouth. Rolling her eyes, she stepped into his personal space, ringing her hand around his wrist.

“Don’t look so disappointed,” she said. “Anyone would think you’d been ordered to go home and marry that hoity-toity southern flower.”

He managed a weak smile. “I might be, one day.”

“You think _I’d_ let that happen? I’d tell your parents where to shove it.”

That _did_ make his smile more genuine. Jessie might put on that haughty veneer for the rest of the world, but it meant more to him than he could possibly say that she cared about him. Sure, he butted heads with both her and Meowth often, but they were the only family he had ever had. The only family he _wanted_.

“That’s better,” she said. “Because I won, and you know what that means.”

She arched her eyebrow at him, and he felt the heat flooding into his cheeks. Yes, he knew what that meant.

“I get to be on top tonight,” she purred, advancing on him like a sleek Persian. Her palms pressed flat to his chest, and he inhaled sharply as her fingers trailed lower, to the buckle on his belt.

Yes, Jessie got to be on top. They had this same competition every single time, and invariably she won it.

He would never breathe word that most of the time he _let_ her win. Most of the time he didn’t put in the effort he should. He could win if he wanted to. He was as good a trainer as Jessie was.

…But he didn’t want to.

Because he _liked_ it when Jessie was on top of him more. He liked the weight of her against him, running his hands over her luscious curves, the forceful press of her chest against his, her breath hot in his ear as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. He liked her fingers raking down his chest, enough to hurt, and that triumphant little smile she always got whenever she made him groan…

Fingers snapped in front of his face. He blinked, coming back to himself.

“I can’t believe you’re not listening to me,” Jessie grumbled, looking decidedly put-out that he hadn’t been paying attention to her gloating.

“I am,” he said hastily. The last thing he wanted to do was jeopardise this wonderful opportunity.

Jessie eyed him for a few more seconds, then shrugged. Evidently she wasn’t in the mood to punish him tonight, either. Instead she flopped down onto the grassy floor and crooked her finger at him, calling him to heel like a growlithe. For someone who not-so-secretly enjoyed the thought of romance, she wasn’t often romantic with him, but that only made James love her more. She was just _Jessie_. No-nonsense. Fiery. So tender-hearted beneath the layers of toughness she wrapped herself in, her disguise for the rest of the world.

He followed her without question, shuffling until he was comfortable. She clambered into his lap at once, her fingers curling through his hair as she slanted her mouth over his. The squeeze of her muscular thighs around him was almost enough to transport him to a higher plane. Jessie’s lips curled over his, and she nipped at him playfully as she eased him onto his back.

And, he thought hazily later, when she was draped bonelessly over his body, her breath hot and wet at his neck, there could be no loser when it came to this game.


End file.
